Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.

To Scpion. I have been using the carbon pad since I purchased the tank kit back on 3/26 2012. It came with the Aqueon filter tank. I will have to look at bacteria absorbing filter media when I buy my test kit.

titanoboa100 wrote:To Scpion. I have been using the carbon pad since I purchased the tank kit back on 3/26 2012. It came with the Aqueon filter tank. I will have to look at bacteria absorbing filter media when I buy my test kit.

Most of us don't use carbon pads unless for the purpose of removing meds or the water source is really screwed. There will be instructions on when to do the replacement on the packaging. As for the filter media, just the normal types would do, ie ceramic rings, beads etc. They serves to house bacterial and not absorb. And NOT those that expensive types like nitrazorbs, nitratelock etc.

PH 8.2 (Apparently on 4/2/2012 the pet store did a PH test, but with the low range PH droplets only. Today they did it with a high range droplet test. They told me thats why the PH is 8.2 and not 7.6 like I though it was on 4/2/2012)

Ammonia Approximately .75 ppm(less than 1.0 PPM)

I think some of the GSP's sight is returning and he is swimming much more carefully. He seems to keep his green color more now than compared to a couple of days ago when the Ammonia was reading at 1.2 PPM.

Should I do another water change today? What about that 8.2 PH reading? Should I get some sort of chemical to lower the PH? I don't have anything inside of the tank besides the GSP and the white gravel. I don't know what could be keeping the PH so high.

Ignore the pH and do at least two 8gal water changes per day until ammonia and nitrite are at 0.

It is absurd to talk of one animal being higher than another. We consider those, when the cerebral structure/intellectual faculties most developed, as highest. A bee doubtless would when the instincts were.Charles Darwin

I have been changing my water and the Ammonia seems to be staying at almost 0. I am concerned about the ICK situation. I would like to know what is the best way to deal with ICK and not put the GSP through much stress at the same time? Should I use Jungle ICK clear tabs? Or use the salt method? According to the Jungle Ick Clear tabs directions I can use half a fizz tab to treat weak or scaleless fish.

I alos wanted to say that I have been feeding my GSP just once a day. However yesterday I feed him once in the morning and once a night before bed. Al of a sudden my GSP got really sluggish and behaving like he did when he was blind back a week ago. This morning I decided not to feed him. Even as I type this reply in I have not feed my GSP today. I noticed about an hour ago that he began to poop. His poop was stringy and looked like it had grains or seeds attached to each other like a beed. Do you guys think stringy poop is a sign of his diet? I have been only feeding him shrimp and some flakes since I got him about two weeks ago. Could the stringy looking poop be related to the suspected ick?

He could have internal parasites. To treat these take 1/4 tablet of Jungle fizz anti-parasite tabs, put it in 1/4 cup of water, add food, then let food soak for several hours before feeding. Feed this for at least 4 days.

It is absurd to talk of one animal being higher than another. We consider those, when the cerebral structure/intellectual faculties most developed, as highest. A bee doubtless would when the instincts were.Charles Darwin

lol. I just learned online that Ick Clear fizz tabs will stain you're silicone sealant and you're gravel hose. I think I will be much more inclined to using the salt method! Good thing I still have my store receipt. Well guys instruct me how to begin the salt method.